MORPHOLOGY PRACTICE TEST

1) The meaningful elements of words are called MORPHEMES.

2) Untrue and truly contain TWO morphemes.
3) Untruthfulness contains 5 morphemes.
4) Morphemes that can stand alone as words are called FREE
morphemes.
5) Morphemes that function only as parts of words are called BOUND
morphemes.
6) DERIVATIONAL morphemes can produce new words from existing
words.
7) INFLECTIONAL morphemes alter the form of a word without
changing either its part of speech or its meaning.
8) Some morphemes, called SUFFIXES, always follow the roots/stems
they attach to, such as “plural” in boys and – ment in commitment.
9) Languages can also have PREFIXES which attach to the front of
another morpheme.
10) In English, all INFLECTIONAL morphemes are suffixes.
11) DERIVATIONAL morphemes can be either prefixes or suffixes.
12) Prefixes and suffixes are called AFFIXES.
13) An INFIX is a morpheme that is inserted within another morpheme
instead of being attached before or after it.
14) Some languages also have what may be called CIRCUMFIXES-
morphemes that occur into parts, on both sides of another morpheme
(chokm + a ‘he is good’ → ik + chokm + o ‘he isn’t good’).
15) The term ALLOMORPH is used to refer to the phonological
realization or manifestation of a morpheme.
16) If a morpheme has more than one phonological realization it is said
to have a number of ALLOMORPHS.
17) A ROOT is the morpheme in a word that has principal meaning.
ROOTS are numerous and most of them in English are free morphemes
but some are bound morphemes.
18) A BASE is any unit whatsoever to which affixes of any kind can be
added. The affixes attached to a BASE may be inflectional affixes
selected for syntactic reasons or derivational affixes which alter the
meaning or grammatical category of the BASE.
19) The STEM is that part of a word that is in existence before any
inflectional affixes have been added.
20) INFLECTIONAL suffixes follow DERIVATIONAL suffixes. That is, if a
word contains both a derivational and an inflectional suffix, then the
inflectional suffix comes last.

21) Identify in the following sentence four bound morphemes. State

the function of each and say whether each is derivational or
inflectional:
 The teacher’s brother considered the project impossible.
-ER: DERIVATIONAL NOUN-FORMING SUFFIX
- ‘S: INFLECTIONAL SUFFIX/NOUN SINGULAR POSSESSIVE
- ED: PAST TENSE
IM-: DERIVATIONAL PREFIX/NOT

22) For each of the following words transcribe phonetically and

account for the allomorphs of the past tense morpheme:
waited waved waded wiped
a) WAITED /Ꞌweitid/
WADED /Ꞌweidid/: /1d/ after verbs + the final sounds /t/ or /d/
b) WAVED /weivd/: /d/ after the verbs + the final sounds: voiced (not
/d/)
c) WIPED / waipt/ > /t/ after the verbs + the final sounds: voiceless
(not /t/)

23) Form verbs in –IZE according to the definitions given below.

E.g.: make soil productive → fertilize
a) practise terrorism upon → TERRORIZE
b) reduce to minimum → MINIMIZE
c) speak in general terms → GENERALIZE
d) give authority to → AUTHORIZE
e) make permissive by law → LEGALIZE
24) Identify the root in each word and state whether each of the
affixes is inflectional or derivational.

WORDS ROOTS DERIVATIONAL INFLECTIONAL

AFFIXES AFFIXES
1. reclassify class re-, -ify
2. brighten bright -en
3. meetings meet -ing -s
4. uncontrollabl control un-, -able
e
5. skillful skill -ful
6. creations create -ion -s
7. cloudier cloud -y -er
8. admiringly admire -ing, -ly
9. amusements amuse -ment -s
10. teachers teach -er -s

25) Identify and name all inflectional suffixes in the following

sentences.
a) John’s brothers tried warning him, but they were ignored.
-‘S: NOUN SINGULAR POSSESSIVE
- S: NOUN PLURAL
- ED: PAST TENSE
-ING: PRESENT PARTICIPLE
-ED: PAST PARTICPLE
b) My son seems taller than you, but he is not the tallest in his class.
-S: PRESENT THIRD PERSON SINGULAR
-ER: COMPARATIVE
-EST: SUPERLATIVE
c) Last week’s tutorials seemed harder than this one.
- ‘S: NOUN SINGULAR POSSESSIVE
-S: NOUN PLURAL
-ED: PAST TENSE
- ER: COMPARATIVE

26) State the purpose of the derivational suffix in the underlined

word in each sentence: What word class can it be added to and what
new word class does it create?
Words Purpose (of Word-class (of Word-class (of
derivational suffix) roots) derived/new
words)
1. idolize -ize: verb-forming idol: noun idolize: verb
suffix
2.education -ion: noun-forming educate: verb education: noun
suffix
3.specialize -ize: verb-forming special: specialize: verb
 suffix adjective
4.brotherly -ly: adjective- brother: noun brotherly:
forming suffix adjective
5.slowly -ly: adverb-forming slow: adjective slowly: adverb
suffix
6.dangerous -ous: adjective- danger: noun dangerous:
forming suffix adjective
7.beautiful -ful: adjective- beauty: noun beautiful:
forming suffix adjective
8.cloudy -y: adjective- cloud: noun cloudy: adjective
forming suffix
9.teacher -er: noun-forming teach: verb teacher: noun
suffix
10.sharpen -en: verb-forming sharp: sharpen: verb
suffix adjective

a) I used to idolise the Beatles.

b) Education is essential for all.
c) Try not to specialise too early.
d) I gave her a brotherly hug.
e) Please drive slowly.
f) That is rather dangerous.
g) That girl is beautiful.
h) The weather is a bit cloudy.
i) The teacher always smiles.
j) Please sharpen this pencil.

27) In this list of English words, pick out the free and bound
morphemes:
a) showcase: F(ree)+F(ree)
b) boxfile: F+F
c) wrongdoing: F(wrong)+F(do)+B (-ing)
d) unbiased: B(un-)+F(bias)+B(-ed)
e) Jonathan’s: F(Jonathan)+B (‘s)
f) distaste: B(dis-)+F
g) outworker: F+F+B (-er)
h) username: F(use)+B(-er) +F(name)
i) blockage: F+B(-age)
j) hopelessly: F+B(-less) +B(-ly)